128 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Sept. 6, 1888. 



A TOKEN FROM THE ST. LAWRENCE. 



NEW YORK, Aug. SO.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 There are amenities in this world of "carking care" 

 that come like glorious sunshine to a poor fellow con- 

 demned to remain in the city at Ms daily toil during these 

 long sweltering days. It comes very pleasant to "be re- 

 membered by his more favored fellow Laborers, 



Such has been our fortune. R. H. Eggleston, of our 

 bank, brought down for the president, Hon. Thos. L. 

 James, and your humble servant a fine box of fiSh, the 

 result of two hours' catch up among the Thousand 

 Islands yesterday morning. He apologized for the small- 

 ness in size of the catch. The wind was high and they 

 could go but a short distance from shore and remain out 

 but a short time. The largest in the box was an 8-pomi<] 

 pickerel with several of 41bs. and olbs. weight: the bass 

 smaller. 



Mr. Eggleston has been highly favored by Dame For- 

 tune in his summer retreat. He is the owner of an island 

 among those one thousand, of about six acres, two and a 

 half miles from Alexandria Bay, near enough to civiliza- 

 tion for convenience and far enough away for seclusion. 

 The island is admirable in shape and situation, being 

 almost quite round. On one side it is high, with percip- 

 itous rocks: the other gracefully slopes to the water's 

 edge. Fine bathing and the best of pickerel and bass 

 fishing within a stone's throw. A picturesque and com- 

 modious cottage, a swift sailboat and safe rowboats, suf- 

 ficient grove for shade, lawn tennis and croquet grounds, 

 swings, etc. What a paradise! 



Dick is an enthusiastic sailor and fisherman, seconded 

 by an intelligent and appreciative wife who enters 

 with a zest in all his sporting propensities. Mrs. E. is 

 something of a fisherwoman herself, having brought to 

 gaff several times the biggest of the day: among them a 

 381b. maskalonge. 



Dick is rather high-toned, in fact a connoisseur in his fish- 

 ing: decries the trolling spoon, gangs and such like, but 

 prefers an 8oz. rod and tackle to correspond. He tells 

 me, that having no gaff, nor net, nor even a club in the 

 boat, going such a short distance from shore, he was 

 thirty- five minutes drowning the 81b. fish. He had him 

 six times up by the side of the boat and had to let him 

 rim again each time. It must have been rather exciting- 

 work. 



Mr. Ed. Seybel, a friend visiting with him recently 

 caught a ten-pounder on a Ooz. rod; and Dick says he will 

 beat that record yet. 



We found the fish excellent eating, firm in flesh and 

 good flavor, but are they not rather coarser in grain than 

 our pond pickerel? It struck us so. 



In the fall they have splendid duck shooting — thousands 

 congregate in their neighborhood and some of the neigh- 

 boring islands are crowded with grouse. Why should 

 not Dick be a happy, happy man. and desire a prolonged 

 existence? 



A party of Jersey boys are planning a ten-days' trip to 

 the wilds of Pennsylvania, Canadensis way, where we 

 found the trout this spring. We expect to find grouse in 

 abundance if we can kill them, woodcock and some 

 quail, hares of course, may be a deer or a black-coated 

 bruin. If we have good luck we will tell you about it: 

 if we don't, well what's the good of saying anything 

 about it? Jacobstafp. 



A VOICE FROM SUNAPEE. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



The article of your correspondent ,, Waltham"on Suna- 

 pee Lake, published in the issue of Aug. 23, leaves on the 

 mind of the reader an erroneous impression in regard to 

 the abundance of trout in our waters, and the success 

 'attending the efforts of those who angle for them. It 

 would appear that he fished for two days (phenomenal 

 persistence! I have a friend who fished tlrrough a spell 

 of bad weather for 72 hours before he had a bite) and, if 

 a blistered nose is any indication, these two days were 

 hot, still and therefore unsuitable. "Waltham" also 

 fished "off the Hedgehog," which he advertises as "prob- 

 ably the best trout fishing ground in the lake." The 

 knowing ones will smile at this piece of intelligence, for 

 the desirability of a fishing ground varies with the season, 

 in regard to the depth, the character of the bottom, and 

 the bottom temperature. At certain seasons of the year 

 I have killed trout in water as many feet deep as they 

 would separately register pounds; at others I have found 

 the requisite temperature at a depth of from 60 to 70ft. 

 "Off the Hedgehog" is a fair ground in August. An 

 experienced guide would have shown "Waltham" where 

 to fish in July, June, May or September. 



"The expectation of taking some of the new trout," 

 writes your correspondent, "has brought many here this 

 year; but so far as I can learn without any great success." 

 His opportunities for learning must have been singularly 

 limited. Permit me to offset this statement with a brief 

 description of several catches which have fallen under 

 my personal notice. Mr. A. H. Powers, of Grantham, 

 brought to my house this season as the result of two 

 hours' fishing in a certain place off my shore, six trout 

 weighing as follows: 2$, 2|, S& 2f, 3 and 3Mbs. Com- 

 missioner Hodge took in one day on the same ground 

 and exhibited the catch to a hundred witnesses, nine 

 trout and salmon, aggregating 451 bs., the largest being a 

 winninish 8^1bs. in weight, the smallest a 31bs. trout. W. 

 Scott Trumbull, of Potter Place, and A. Morey, of Wil- 

 mot, fishing together a mile from my cottage, brought 

 to net in a single day twenty-five trout and salmon, 

 weighing Gllbs. "Jake" Hutchison, of Newport, the 

 most indefatigable and one of the most successful fisher- 

 men on the lake (his dreams made us merry last spring, 

 but it seems they were premonitors of success), has taken 

 so far this season one hundred and twelve trout and 

 salmon, his thirty-five largest trout weighing 881bs. 

 These figures can easily be corroborated by correspond- 

 ence with the parties named. Such is some of the "poor 

 luck" which attends the angler for trout at Sunapee 

 Lake. 



As for the bass, it has ceased to be an accomplishment 

 to' catch them in their season. An expert caster can re- 

 peatedly hook doublets. But it takes patience, and some 

 knowledge of localities, to fill the basket with trout, and 

 perhaps this explains "Waltham's" failure to secure his 

 share of the "three tons" of Salvelinus sunapee, which, it 

 is estimated, have been taken from the lake this summer. 



"Waltham's" remark that the lake "is becoming civil- 

 ized too rapidly," is, alas! too apparent to be questioned. 

 Yet rod-fishing can make little impression on the hun- 



dreds of thousands of fish annually planted by the State 

 Commissioners. The supply is far in excess of the con- 

 sum ption. Nor are we likely to see any illegal fishing so 

 long as the vigilance, the fearlessness and the industry of 

 our worthy commissioner, Col. E. B. Hodge, are enlisted 

 in the interest of the angling public. 



John D. Quackenbos. 



.SUNAPKE IiAtaS, Aug. 25. 



Black Bass in Lake Hopatcono.— New Jersey has 

 but few lakes but the black bass thrives in her water!- 

 wherever they are suitable. For years Greenwood Lake, 

 which lies partly in New York, has been the favorite 

 place for black bass, notwithstanding the constant and 

 severe drains made upon it. Hopatcong is now coming 

 to the front as the best black bass waters in New Jersey. 

 It was not stocked with this fish until long after Green- 

 wood was, hence it has not come into such general notice. 

 Five years ago the pickerel predominated and there were 

 not many of them, but the black bass has steadily gained 

 until to-day there is good fishing there. Last week a 

 gentleman and his wife took from Hopatcong seventy-five 

 pounds of black bass, the smallest fish being a little under 

 two pounds and the largest one weighed over four. 

 Truly, a good day's sport. 



Reward for Large Black Bass. — A newspaper slip 

 has gone around saying that the Fish Commissioners of 

 Now Hampshire had offered a reward of one hundred 

 dollars for a black bass of certain weight, caught in then- 

 State. It was sent to us for verification, and we inclosed 

 it to Commissioner E. B. Hodge, of Plymouth, N. H., 

 who replies as follows: "I do not know T how such a story 

 started. Ave have not offered a. reward for a bass of any 

 kind or size. " This disposes of that product of sensa- 

 tional ingenuity, and anglers who go to New Hampshire 

 for black bass must content themselves with the fact that 

 a filb. fish is its own reward. 



Rhode Island Coast Fishing.— Newport, R. I., Aug. 

 31. — I have just returned from a ten-days' camp with my 

 brother-in-law, Mr. J. C. Harrison, not many miles up 

 the coast from Newport. We were accompanied by that 

 very able baiter, W. M. Hughes, to whose skill in chum- 

 ming much of our success was due. Our catch was as 

 follows: Twenty striped bass, weight 141flbs.; bluefish, 

 Tibs. ; sea bass, loilbs. ; flounders. fJOlbs.— Hugh L. Wil- 



LOUGHBY. 



jfltehmlinre. 



THE DIGESTIBILITY OF FISH. 



UV PROF. W. O. ATWATER. 

 [Head before the American Fisheries Society.] 

 [Qmw%n&cdi from pane 109.) 



THE QUANTITIES OF DIGESTIBLE SUBSTANCES IK FOOD. 



HPHE first question we have now to ask may be put in this 

 X way. What proportion of each of the nutrients in differ- 

 ent food materials is actually digestible? In a piece of meat, 

 for instance, what percentage of the total protein and fats 

 will be digested by a healthy person, and what proportion of 

 each will escape digestion 2 The proportion of food constit- 

 uents digested by domestic animals has been a matter of 

 active investigation in the European agricultural experi- 

 ment stations during the past twenty years. Briefly ex- 

 pressed, the method consists iu weighing and analyzing both 

 the food consumed and the intestinal execretion, which latter 

 represents the amount of food digested. The difference is 

 taken as the amount digested. 



Such experiments upon human subjects, however, are ren- 

 dered much more difficult by the fact that in order that the 

 digestibility of each particular food material may be deter- 

 mined with certainty, we must avoid mixing it with other 

 materials. Hence the diet during the experiments must be 

 so plain and simple as to make it extremely unpalatable. 

 An ox will live contentedly on a diet of hay for an indefinite 

 time, but for an ordinary man to subsist a week on meat or 

 fish or potatoes or eggs is a very different matter. No mat- 

 ter how palatable such a simple food may be at first to a 

 man used to the ordinary diet of a well to'do community, it 

 will almost certainly become repugnant to him after a few 

 days. In consequence, the digestive functions are disturbed 

 and the accuracy of the trial is impaired, a fact, by the 

 way, which strikingly illustrates the importance of 

 varied diet in civilized life. For instance, in an experi- 

 ment conducted in the physiological laboratory at Munich, 

 by Dr. Rubner, the subject, a strong, healthy Bavarian labor- 

 ing man, lived for three days upon bread and water, a diet 

 the monotony of which was much more endurable than one of 

 meat or fish or most any ot b er single food material would have 

 been. He was able to eat 1,185 grams (about 21bs. and lOoz.) 

 of bread per day. This contained (570 grams of carbo hydrates, 

 mainly starch, of which only about 5% grains, or u little less 

 than 1 per cent., escaped digestion. In this case, therefore, 

 about 99 per cent, of the carbo hydrates of the bread were 

 digested. The bread contained 13 grams of protein , of which 13 

 per cent, were undigested, and 87 per cent. ov% of the whole 

 protein, digested. The quantity of fatty matters in the 

 bread was too small t<j permit an at. all accurate test of their 

 digestibility. In another experiment the digestibility of 

 meat— beefsteak, was tested. The man consumed a little less 

 than Slbs. per day. but though it was cooked with butter, 

 pepper, salt and onions, so as to make it taste "extraordi- 

 narily well flavored," it was very difficult to swallow it the 

 second day, and required great effort the third. The diges- 

 tion, however, seemed to be normal, and all but about 1 

 per cent, of the protein was digested. Other trials with 

 meat and with fish have brought similar results, and it is 

 reasonably safe to say that when a healthy person with 

 sound digestive organs eats ordinary meat in proper quanti- 

 ties, all or nearly all of the protein is digested. Some of the 

 fats of meats, however, seem to fail of digestion. The num- 

 ber of accurate experiments of this kind is still very small. 

 Some sixty or thereabouts have been reported. Nearly all 

 have been made within ten years past, and the majority iu 

 one laboratory, that of the University of Munich. Most of 

 the subjects have been men with healthy digestive organs, 

 two or three laboratory servants, a soldier, several medical 

 students and a few others. Several have been made, how- 

 ever, with children of a few families. All but a very small 

 number conducted in Germany. 



Some time since it was my fortune to pass a number of 

 months iu Munich, where, through the courtesy of Profes- 

 sor Voit, Director of the Physiological Institute of the Uni- 

 versity, T was enabled to make some experiments on the 

 digestion of meat and fish by a man and by a dog. Each 

 lived for three days upon haddock and then for three days 

 upon lean meat— beefsteak. The dog was used to such ex- 

 periments and got on very comfortably indeed. The meat 

 and fish were each cooked with a little lard. He did not take 

 to the fish at first, but after he got used to it seemed to like 

 it. The first attempt with a man was with the same healthy, 



rather stolid Bavarian laborer, with whom Dr. Buhner's 

 experiments with meat and bread, above referred to, were 

 performed. He bore up very well through the trials with 

 both the fish and the meat, but the assistant discovered at 

 the end that he had surreptitiously eaten sourkrout, and the 

 experiment was spoiled. Fortunately, a medical student, 

 then working in the laboratory, became interested in the 

 subject, and offered himself as a martyr to the cause. He 

 had for three days flesh of haddock, fried with butter, fla- 

 vored with salt, pepper, mustard and Worcestershire sauce, 

 and taken with beer and wine. Then came a period of rest, 

 that is to say, ordinary diet, and then a similar trial with 

 beefsteak. I was with him at every meal and can bear warm 

 testimony to his fortitude and determination. The menu 

 was made as appetizing as possible under the circumstances. 

 The first day of each trial went pretty well, the second day 

 it was difficult, and the third day almost impossible to swal- 

 low the whole. I used all sorts of devices to make it easier, 

 especially by distracting his thoughts from the food; told 

 stories of America, cracked jokes, made fun of him. at times 

 almost angered him. And it is safe to say that all the effort 

 was needed. As the result, it appeared that he digested 

 nearly the whole of both the meat and the fish. The results 

 of the experiments are stated in tabular form herewith. The 

 percentage of each ingredient which escaped digestion is 

 given. In some cases a correction for certain errors of ex- 

 periment, which need not be discussed here, is applied to the 

 figures for amounts "apparently undigested,'' to show those 

 estimated to be "actually" digested. 



SUMMARY OF RESULTS OF EXPERIMENTS ON TBE DIGESTION OF 

 THE CONSTITUENTS OF MEAT AKB FISH BY A DOG AND BY 

 A MAN, PERCENTAGES UNDIGESTED. 



FXI'KKIMENTS WITH FOOD. 



"Water-free substance, apparently 



Doc. 



Nitrogen (protein), from meat or 

 fish, apparently undigested 



Nitrogen (protein), from meat or 

 fish, actually undigested 



Fat, mostly from lard or butter, 

 apparently undigested 



Ash, apparsntly undigested 



Meat 

 and 

 Lard. 



Fish 

 and 

 Lard. 



Meat. 

 Butter, 

 etc. 



Fish. 

 Butter, 

 etc. 



Per ct. 



Per ct. 



Per ct. 



Per ct. 



3,4 



3.2 



4.3 



4.9 





1.6 



3.5 . 



2.0 



0.3 



0.0 



0.7 



0.5 



2.8 

 14.3 



3.0 

 14,1 



■"j '' 



2i : 5 



9.0 



22.5 



According to these experiments, therefore, practically all 

 of the nitrogenous materials (protein) of both the fish (had- 

 dock) and the lean beef was digested by the dog, and all but 

 one-half or three-fourths of one per cent, by the man. While 

 more experiments are needed, the agreement of these results 

 with what would be expected from the nature of the nitro- 

 gen compounds, and what is known of the laws of digestion 

 and absorption, leaves little ground to doubt that very nearly 

 all, indeed, we may say, practically all, of the protein ot 

 both, will be digested by a healthy organism under normal 

 conditions. 



The conclusion that the flesh of the common kinds of fish 

 agrees very closely in digestibility with that of the common 

 kinds of meat, at least so far as the protein (the chief con- 

 stituent of the "lean" of meat and fish) is concerned, seems 

 equally well grounded. It would seem, however, from other 

 considerations and especially from actual experiments with 

 meats, in which the fat is imperfectly digested, that fish, 

 having generally less fat than meat, is, on the average, more 

 easily and completely digested. Perhayjs it will be interesting 

 to note how different food materials compare in digestibility 

 as shown by experiments such as those just, described. 



DIGESTIBILITY OF NUTRIENTS OF FOOD MATERIALS. 



in the fnnH -mat^ Of the total amounts of protein, fats and carbo 

 rials telo™ hydrates the following percentages were 



Protein. Fats. 



Meat and lisli Practically all. 79 to 92 per ct. 



Eggs " " 96 " 



41 to 100 per cent. 

 81 to 100 " 



Mifk 



"Wheat bread 



Corn (maize) meal. 



Rice 



Pease 



Potatoes 



Beets 



84 



74 

 72 



93 to 98 



? 

 ?. 

 1 

 ? 

 ? 

 ? 



Carbo hydr's. 



9'J per cent. 

 97 " 

 99 " 



The amounts of fat iu the vegetable foods are so small 

 that the experiments do not tell exactly what proportions 

 are digested. The meats and fish contain practically no 

 carbo hydrates. The digestibility of the carbo hydrates 

 (sugar) of milk was not determined, those of the vegetable 

 foods, except the beets, were almost completely digested. 

 That the protein of cow's milk should be so much less com- 

 pletely digested than that of meal seems a little strange. 

 Children have been found to digest a little more than adults, 

 though the difference is not large. Thus Dr. Ca merer, a 

 German experimenter, found his boys and girls of from two 

 to twelve years of age to digest from 91 to 97 per cent, of the 

 protein of cow's milk, while grown men in experiments by 

 Dr. Piubner digested from 88 to 94 per ceut. But in experi- 

 ments in which milk and cheese were eaten together by a 

 man, the laboratory servant of Dr. Rubner's experiments, 

 all or nearly all of the protein of both was digested. The 

 percentages of fats of milk digested was practically the 

 same with adults as with children. It is worth noting in 

 these experiments, both children and adults digest only 

 about half of the mineral salts of the milk. Why so much 

 of the fats of the meat, from a twelfth to a fifth, should 

 have failed to be digested it is not easy to say. Some of the 

 food materials, as meat, bread and milk, have been tested 

 each by several experiments with more than one person. 

 With others, as eggs, corn meal, rice, peas and potatoes, only 

 a single trial has been made. Doubtless extended series of 

 tests would give averages differing more or less from these 

 figures. Another thing that makes the results a little un- 

 certain, is that some of the food materials may perhaps be 

 more completely digested when taken in small quantities 

 with others in the ordinary way than when so much of them 

 is eaten and without any other food. These and other 

 sources of slight error make more extended experiments 

 very desirable. But enough has been done to show pretty 

 clearly that: 



1. The protein of our ordinary meats and fish is very read- 

 ily and completely digested. 



2. The protein of vegetable foods is much less digestible 

 than that of animal foods. Of that of potatoes and beets, 

 for instance, a third or more may escape digestion, and thus 

 be useless for nourishment. 



3. Much of the fat of animal food may at times fail of 

 digestion. 



~i The carbo hydrates, which make up the larger part of 

 vegetable foods, are very digestible. 



5. The animal foods have, in general, the advantages of 

 the vegetable foods, that they contain more protein, and that 

 their protein is more digestiole. 



6. The comparative digestibility of fish and meats, and ot 

 the different kinds of fish, is not well enough decided by 

 experiment to warrant as definite conclusions as are desir- 

 able. It seems probable, however, that the leaner meats are 



